Fair price shop owners oppose new guidelines

Fair price shop owners and retail kerosene sellers in Mysore have expressed difficulties in following the new set of guidelines issued by the State government futile.

Submitting a memorandum to A.H. Vishwanath, Mysore MP, here on Friday, shop owners said the stipulation that ration should be distributed to card-holders before the 10th of every month was not a workable proposition. The earlier system of distributing ration throughout the month ought to be restored.

The shop owners also questioned the Food and Civil Supplies Department instruction that all shop owners should lift stocks of foodgrains by the end of every month. Wholesale godowns may or may not have enough stock in which case lifting the stock would be a problem, they stated.

They also brought up the issue of fingerprints of certain elderly individuals (single-member cards) not matching on the e-machine as well as non-inclusion of new names or those transferred from other places in the e-machines. They said that this had come in the way of distribution. If the e-machine broke down, it would lead to other problems, they said.

In such cases, the government should allow shop owners to allow distribution through the usual billing system, they demanded.

The other issue that led to confusion was the State government order to make showing Aadhaar cards compulsory for ration card holders during the distribution of foodgrains. Though the court had ruled that Aadhaar cards were not mandatory to avail of government services, they had not received any official communication from the government so far, they said. The other stipulation that either a representative of a non-government organisation or a student from the nearby school should monitor the distribution of foodgrains had created an atmosphere of distrust.The government had also said that malpractice and other lapses would attract booking of criminal cases under the Goonda Act, which was not acceptable, they said.

Mr. Vishwanath said that he would liaise with the State government and find a way out to redress their grievances.